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VR Scenario Contest Entry

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In January this year there was a contest over at VRSverige.se where one could submit a scenario we wanted to see in VR. I of course forgot all about it until the last day and then spent 5-6 hours brain storming and putting together an entry. In the end I didn’t win anything but it was a fun mental exercise in any case.

This is the image I submitted, all the text is in Swedish but I have provided the translation below.

Top left:

This scenario is based on the co-op game Lovers in a Dangerous Spacetime. The goal of the game is to work together to travel through space, save bunnies and defend against enemies and asteroids.

On the ship there are various stations that can be manned by any of the crew, as long as it’s not already occupied. Depending on what has to be done; steering, shooting, shielding or firing, players have to run to the specific station to perform the task, this as there are more stations than players.

During the journey you get access to upgrades and repairs for the ship. The further you get the bigger and scarier the enemies become.

Image text:

[Map]See where in space you currently are, and if there are enemies nearby.

[Fuel storage]Catch fuel while travelling and throw it towards the automatic hatch.

[Energy distribution]Divert extra energy to a specific station for a short amount of time.

[Defense turret]Use this to shoot down enemies.

[Shield]Move the shield around to defend in the direction enemies come from.

[Navigation]Use this station to control with which speed and in which direction the ship is moving through space.

[Upgrades]Invest in your ship to improve the various systems, weapons and properties.

[Repair]Open the hatch to repair the inner circuits of the ship.

Below image:

In the VR-version of the game your ship is basically a platform that floats around on a horizontal plane. Players can walk between stations or locomote virtually if your room is not large enough. The game is meant to be a room-scale experience but obviously it will not be possible for everyone.

The point of the game is that you man the ship with some friends, at least a total of two people should be in the crew. More people will obviously make it more manageable, but might also cause more enemies to spawn! Co-operation and co-ordination is key to success!

Bottom list of features:

To navigate you pick out a remote from the center console, the ship travels in the direction you point with the remote. Just like in the 2D game the ship cannot rotate but only move in different directions, this to reduce the risk of simulator sickness.

The various panels are operated by touching the controls.

Defense turrets are controlled by grabbing the two handles and angling it towards what you want to shoot at. The display will show a zoomed in image of what you are targeting.

Everyone can at any time catch floating fuel while the ship is moving through space, then throw it against the auto-accepting hatch that sucks it in.

By defeating enemies you earn the credits you use for buying upgrades.

Find hidden bonuses by shooting boxes placed in the environment, these can contain automatic repairs, nodes for the map or modifications for the ship. These modifications can change the properties of different stations of the ship, like how strong your engine is, how your shield is shaped or what your turrets fire for projectiles.

Through energy distribution you can divert spare power to a specific station over half a minute to increase its’ performance. These stations would be weapons, engines or the shield. The panel is lit if there is power stored up to use for this temporary boost.

If the crew has enough credits to upgrade anything the panel is lit, go here to improve the various properties of the ship.

The shield can be rotated around the ship to defend in any direction, it will stay in the direction you leave it and protect against incoming attacks.

That is it! Even if it wasn’t a winning scenario I’d still like to experience something like this eventually. I do enjoy co-op games the most out of anything, and in VR it becomes close to normal human collaboration, which can make or break relationships I guess ;)

I’ve been doodling with a whole slew of random projects this year, but have as usual neglected to blog about things, mostly as I bring the project up to a functional level so I can use them but not with the polish with which I’d be comfortable to make anything public. For posterity I need to get some more content onto here though!

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